My wife has always been more of a boutique gym person—HIIT classes, Pilates, circuit-style workouts, etc. I’ve mostly been on the endurance side (running, etc.), so I haven’t spent a ton of time lifting, but recently I decided I want to put on some muscle and get into more structured strength training.
When I started looking for gyms around us, I realized we’re kind of in a gym desert. There are tons of boutique studios, but almost no good free weight gyms. Our realistic options came down to:
• Lifetime North Druid Hills ($489/month 😅)
• LA Fitness (cheap, but… you get what you pay for)
• The Forum Ponce (no chance I’m dealing with Ponce traffic/parking daily)
We also have slightly different needs—my wife wants classes, and I want solid free weights plus a turf area for functional work—so Lifetime seemed like the only place that kind of checked both boxes.
That said… after a short time as members, I’m honestly pretty confused how Lifetime justifies their location prices.
Equipment issues:
• Missing basic resistance bands (no lighter bands for pull-up assistance, etc.)
• No sleds (other ATL locations like Perimeter have one)
• Only one Smith machine, which is always taken (or the bench is missing)
• Only one dip station, and it’s oddly placed away from the main lifting area
Just generally lacking some “standard” equipment you’d expect at this price point
Facility/maintenance issues:
• Floors are consistently dirty, even early in the day
• Weights are constantly out of place and never reorganized
• Locker room towel bins are often overflowing
• Men’s sauna is in rough shape—the bottom bench is sagging and missing all of its bottom supports
• Incredibly small and unmaintained pool
I’m not trying to nitpick, but for a place that brands itself as a “country club” and charges nearly $500/month, this feels pretty off in terms of value
What really confuses me is that this location is:
$150/month more than Sandy Springs
$110/month more than Perimeter
$89/month more than Buckhead
…and yet doesn’t seem as well-equipped or maintained. Other locations are bigger, have more amenities, and overall do not seem any nicer than Druids Hills apart from it being a “newer” facility. Granted I’ve only been to Sandy Springs and Perimeter but they don’t feel all that different from one another and frankly all are a bit rough around the edges… nothing like their beautiful architectural renderings on their websites would suggest.
Curious if any other Druid Hills members feel the same? Or if other ATL location members feel similarly about their home gym?